TELEVISION; Hey Now: It's Garry Shandling's Obsession

By JACQUES STEINBERG

Published: January 28, 2007

IT was almost nine years ago that Larry Sanders, the fictional talk-show host who was a too-close-for-comfort amalgam of Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jack Paar, signed off the air. In the final episode of his show (and of the biting HBO series that bore the same name), he perched Carsonesque on a stool in front of a blue curtain and started his farewell monologue.

''To you at home, thank you so much,'' he began, choking up. Regaining his composure, he returned his gaze to the audience and continued, ''To tell you the truth, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do without you.''

Larry wasn't just losing his talk show; he was losing a nightly ego boost, and the security of a shimmering curtain that kept the real world at bay. But what of Garry Shandling, the comedian who not only played Larry but created him and ''The Larry Sanders Show''? After a six-year run, what would either of them do without it?

''The Larry Sanders Show'' had always straddled a fine line between reality and fiction, with Mr. Shandling encouraging the actors and writers to draw on their own experiences to send up the most unappealing aspects of Hollywood culture. Thus an endless stream of celebrities were recruited to play cartoonish versions of themselves, whether it was Ellen DeGeneres having a fling with Larry while Hollywood buzzed about her sexuality, or Alec Baldwin sleeping with Larry's wife while the couple were separated, only to be booked later as one of Larry's guests.

But while the actor and his main character shared more than a few awkward insecurities, Mr. Shandling had never pursued that nightly fix of entertaining millions. As a regular substitute host on ''The Tonight Show'' in the 1980s, he could have tried to succeed Mr. Carson and was later offered Mr. Letterman's old job. He declined.

Nonetheless that final ''Larry Sanders'' monologue proved prescient: Mr. Shandling, now 57, has never entirely moved on. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, whose television series ended that same spring, Mr. Shandling has not done a stand-up tour. And unlike Bill Cosby, whose ''Cosby Show'' signed off NBC in 1992 only to be succeeded by ''Cosby'' on CBS, he has not pursued another series. Meanwhile, as ''Larry Sanders'' fades from memory, shows like ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Entourage'' on HBO, and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' and ''30 Rock'' on NBC, have tried to replicate the show-business realism that Mr. Shandling did first and, arguably, best.

Save for two gigs as host of the Emmy Awards and scattered movie roles, Mr. Shandling has kept a low profile. ''It's very similar to -- what is it? -- the seven stages of grieving,'' he said recently, during the first extended interview he had granted in several years. ''First there's the shock,'' he said, at ease in a soft leather chair in his living room. ''Now I'm going to head for something funny here. Then there's denial, acceptance and,'' he paused, ''masturbation.''

As it turns out, the wrenching process of producing as many as 18 episodes a season was so grueling for Mr. Shandling -- who was not only the star but also the head writer and so-called show runner -- that he never really gave the show a proper goodbye. Meanwhile, in the midst of ending the show, he filed a spectacular lawsuit against his manager, Brad Grey, whom he accused of cheating him.

Hence there was no real wrap party for the cast, and even years later Mr. Shandling was still too exhausted to contribute much to a DVD of episodes from the first season. ''It was unfortunate the show couldn't end with a higher spirit,'' he said.

These days Mr. Shandling seems more settled. He spends much of his time boxing (four times a week) or in periodic pickup basketball games at his home. He is financially secure, at least partly as a result of his settlement with Mr. Grey, valued by Mr. Shandling's lawyer at more than $10 million. His bushy brown hair, so memorable from his early ''Tonight'' appearances, remains full but is now close-cropped; his face is tan and taut. And he has sought peace in a place Larry never would: the study of Zen Buddhism. He meditates on long, solitary trips to Hawaii or around his sprawling home, with its sloping backyard overlooking a canyon.

''My sense is that this has been a time for Garry of introspection, and, it sounds funny to say about a comedian or comic actor, of real spiritual growth,'' said Peter Tolan, a writer and producer who was his longtime collaborator on the show. ''He's in a better place than when we were doing the show.''

Still, Mr. Shandling has lately been tugged by a powerful, almost obsessive desire to go back and revisit the breadth of his ''Larry Sanders'' experience, for the purpose, he said, of finding out both who he was then and how he might give the show, and his role in it, a fitting ending. His vehicle: a DVD set, drawn from all six seasons of ''Larry Sanders,'' to be released by Sony Pictures on April 17.

Other performers might be content to put out such packages with a few sweeteners, maybe some outtakes and running commentary from the star. But Mr. Shandling has never been like other performers. More than a year ago he set out, hand-held camera crew in tow, to interview virtually everyone connected to the show. There are the series regulars, including Jeffrey Tambor, who played Hank Kingsley (''hey now!''), Larry's eager-to-please yet quick-to-lash-out sidekick, and Rip Torn, who played Artie, Larry's fiercely protective executive producer. Mr. Shandling's camera also found many of the A-list guest stars whom he had goaded into cameos on the original show, including Mr. Seinfeld, Mr. Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart and Tom Petty.

Thus the DVD's title, ''Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show,'' and its length: four discs, despite containing just 23 episodes.